There are probably many XTERRA athletes who have also raced Ironman at some point in their life.  Anyone who has done both XTERRA and Ironman knows that both types of races are very hard, but in very, very different ways.

Ironman is a primarily mental battle that tests your resolve to get to the finish line.  To be successful, you have to largely ignore what other competitors are doing, retreat into your own little box, and focus on what you personally need to do to maximize your performance.  XTERRA, on the other hand, is an almost purely physical game of pushing yourself at your red-line for as long as you can.  It is much more intense.  Rather than ignoring the other competitors, you have to feed off of them.  If someone is pulling away from you, you have to dig a little deeper and see if you can hang on.  You have to spy them through the woods to make sure you know where everyone is and how they are feeling.

So, I wouldn’t normally mix the two into the same season of racing, because the training for one type of race is all wrong for the other.  This year, however, my fiancee (now wife) was determined to complete her first Ironman before we got married.  It has long been one of her big life goals.  She coyly asked me if I would be willing to do it with her, and I couldn’t say no.

Wetsuits on... just before the race.

After the race... happy to be finished.

I am an XTERRA guy all the way.  I don’t relate much with the Ironman crowd with their M-Dot tattoos and endless banter about which aero wheel might shave a few seconds off their bike split.  So, one of my primary goals for this year has been to minimize the negative effects of a mid-season Ironman on my XTERRRA campaign.  The last Ironman I did took 6-8 weeks to fully recover from, and I knew that wouldn’t work this time.  The only thing I could think to do was to use the huge volume of Ironman training as a precursor to more specific XTERRA training.  By building an enormous base, I reasoned, I would be able to build speed on top of that later.

How’s it working?  So far, so good.  I eeked out a 4th place finish at the XTERRA Mountain Championship in Beaver Creek three weeks out from the Ironman with almost no training in between.  My body is very confused about the intervals and speed work I have been imposing on it lately, but hopefully it will respond in time for some good late season results.

XTERRA Mountain Championship at Beaver Creek